hateful grudge

someone in the upper management of missouri forestry has a hateful grudge against cedar trees. i admit that they are invasive in the worst of introduced fashion. ben has asked me to cut cedars again this year for roaring river state park. i must decline because the drive is too far. if i stay overnight with the rest of the crew, then tabitha and the kids are lonely. i really liked cutting trees last year. i must have cut down several thousand cedars in the few weeks that we were on the job.

today i got a taste of what it was like last year. bob needed to clear a cedar grove to afford the forest the opportunity to regain health. his guineas will like the new clearing too. guineas are from the savannahs in africa i assume that they don't care for the closeness of the forest by his house. they spend their days in the neighbors expansive yard. i only fell fifty or so trees today and i am whooped. i'd do that much in an hour last year at roaring river. i did have to haul them to a big pile which is the real work. bob would drive his skid steer and crush down the pile occasionally. i enjoy felling trees. when i first started i was scared and didn't enjoy it. now i am fairly proficient and really enjoy myself.

things on my list for the weekend and beyond.. (h&b2 those two periods are for you)
-duct work in attic
-insulation in attic
-finish cutting wood for barnifactor
-start cutting wood for us for next winter
-work on barn
-finish birdhouse present
-start a few fires (too bad you aren't around for this matt)
-build stanchion
-get feed for nimue

the barnifactor (aka the guy who got us our little barn in trade for wood) came by the other day and was measuring his partial wood pile and was writing in a little pad of paper. hum, do you thing he might be anxious for his wood? i only have a third cord of wood left to go. i can do that in a few hours if given the chance.

i saved a few really great pieces of cedar today and plan to make a bed from some of them. i am off to design the bed in adobe illustrator.

cedar devastation at roaring river

ben got a government contract to cut down all the cedar (non-native) trees on 15 acres of roaring river state park. they plan to burn them in place in june. we fell the trees cut them into manageable chunks and leave them. i cut hundreds and hundreds of trees yesterday. there are thousands of dollars worth of trees that cannot be taken out for cedar closets. the hike is too far, no vehicles allowed, they are trying to take the area back to original pre-settlement status. the fragile native tree species cannot compete with the cedar. it still kinda makes me sick because i feel like a clear cutter. the place looks like a tornado hit.

needless to say cutting dense cedar forest on steep rocky terrain is hard work. i am sore this morning and i'll be back at it today. on a positive note i can judge, wedge and fell trees very reliably. before yesterday the art of falling trees seemed more like guess work--especially on big trees it can be really scary. i fell some huge cedars yesterday. i couldn't reach around the trunk at chest height (that is huge for cedar). not to jinx myself but i'm getting pretty good at it.

oh the beautiful wood that is just sitting there ready to be burned. transport heliocopter anyone?

wine

the cedars are all cut. we cut fifteen acres of dense cedar forest from roaring river state park. the terrain was steep and rocky. we did about .4 acres per person per day. we had to fell them leaving a stump less than four inches from the ground. then cut them into manageable pieces for burning. the trees were beautiful. if we had been able to haul them out and sell them there would have been way over fifty thousand dollars worth of cedar closet lining.

i came home to a bath tub left in our driveway by some random neighbor. what is that about? well we are going to use it in some of our livestock operation. possibly it will be a secondary waterer for our shaded pasture.

the pigs will be ready for pickup in a week. a person might ask, do we have containment? NO, we have successfully shirked the pig raising onto mike. he needs a pond hogged. is that a verb? anyway he has a pond that needs to be sealed and hogs are the best and only method worth considering in the ozarks. the pigs will visit our garden in the fall for a final clean-up and a fresh tilling then off to slaughter.

the cat is on the fast track to being an outdoor kitty. our cat climbs on any warm body and cozys-in. this is counter to raising a small child that cannot kick the cat off. so, the cat goes because there will be a new baby soon.

"see i'm a nice boy"

i was gone for three days cutting cedars at roaring rock state park. i miss my family so much when i am gone. i am scared i'll miss something really cool that the kids do for the first time. i guess tristan was kinda naughty while i was gone. it is understandable because he is used to having me around and it is a huge change for him when i am gone. tabitha was using the promise of movie night to leverage good behavior. when i got home i brought the mail and the kids got valentines from my parents. they loved them tristan had me read his to him several times (it said "to a nice boy... ...happy valentines day") then he'd say kassi too. little stuff like that makes them so happy. after i had been home a while i mentioned that "only nice boys" get to have movie night. he immediately produced proof that he was a "nice boy" (the valentine card from grandme and grandpa) he said "see i'm a nice boy." i almost fell over laughing. i guess if it is written in print it must be true.

somehow the printer didn't work to print the valentines cards photos. i'm going to re-setup the file and try again this morning. the cards might be a bit late but they are on their way.

tristan can write his name! it is completely legible and very neat(i'll scan one of his examples later.) he also walks around muttering "T, R, I, S, T, A, N" all the time. this no-tv decision has really shifted his focus to wanting to learn to read.
applications for pen pals will be accepted via U.S.P.S. all applications must be printed in all caps and very complementary to both tristan and kassi.

trash day
valentines printout
groceries
milking shed
make-up for lost hugs while gone